10,000 Peasants March against Monsanto in Haiti; Peasant Leader to Visit US this Coming Monday June 14 2010

To Join us this Coming Monday to Receive Jean-Baptiste Chavannes who is a Peasant Leader from

Haiti

More than 10,000 Peasants March against Monsanto in Haiti

Hinche, Haiti– An estimated 10,000 peasants gathered for a massive march in Central Haiti on June 4, 2010, to protest what has been described as “the next earthquake for Haiti” – a donation of 475 tons of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds by the US-based agribusiness giant Monsanto, in partnership with USAID. While this move comes at a time of dire need in Haiti, many feel it will undermine rather than bolster the country’s food security.

According to Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, leader of the Peasant Movement of Papaye (MPP) and spokesperson for the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papaye (MPNKP), the entry of Monsanto seeds into Haiti is “a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds… and on what is left our environment in Haiti.”

Jean-Baptiste Chavannes was born in 1947 in Haiti. Educated as an agronomist, he founded the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) in 1973 to teach Haitian principles of sustainable agriculture. The MPP has become one of the most effective peasant movements of Haiti’s history, succeeding in terms of economic development, environmental protection and the survival of each.

Chavannes continues his work despite the political climate in Haiti, which remains unstable. He has been exposed to several assassination attempts during periods of political destabilization in Haiti.Death threats have forced into exile between 1993 and 1994. He received the Goldman Environment Prize in 2005 for his work on forest protection.

Monday June 14 at 6 PM: Press conference followed by a community meeting at the 1199SEIU Martin Luther King Labor Center, 310 West 43rd Street, near 8th Ave, Midtown Manhattan